(NOTE: At the time of publishing, there are also two other releases besides the ones compared; The newer ones are HorribleSubs (Crunchyroll) and Underwater. I compared the following groups before these others were released.)
Continuing with the first impressions, I’ll be giving my opinion on Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara. It’s the latest in the recent lineup of wacky harem comedy premises in light novels and anime (Date A Live, NouCome, and PsyCome, to name a few), this time featuring a main character that can see “flags”, which are basically relationship markers as seen in galge and eroge.
Now usually when I watch an anime I pick just one fansubbing group to get it from. Most of the time this is an easy choice because there’s a clear cut between which one is the best for a particular show. In this case, however, there are two seemingly equal groups releasing it, and I’m going to have to go in myself and decide which one I’m going to be downloading for the rest of the season. My final decision will be made up of several factors: Video quality, translation quality, and subtitle quality will be the main things I look for.[Read more…]

Next up in my line of First Impressions is Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, the latest generic light novel adaptation from Madhouse. Madhouse is known for having done anime from pretty much every genre; some of them have turned out amazing, and some absolutely awful. While the actual quality itself is what’s in question here, the success of Mahouka is guaranteed. It’s based on a popular light novel and has a large cast including many cute girls, one of them being the biggest seller of them all- a little sister character. In my opinion, Mahouka can go one of two ways- the way of Sword Art Online (AKA “The Bad Way”), or it can go the way of Toaru Majutsu no Index (AKA “The Good Way”). Should Mahouka go “The Bad Way”, it will end up absolutely, irredeemably, terrible. It will also become an extreme success in Japan and overseas, move over 40,000 copies per volume, and make it on Toonami within a year. Should it go “The Good Way”, it will end up very enjoyable, maybe even to point of “very good”, and also be successful, though not as successful. In this case it will probably move more like 25,000 copies per volume, and will have a DVD/BD-only release overseas within two years. As it is now, it has the potential to be good and to be awful. There’s only one way to find out, and that’s by watching it.
In this “First Impressions”, I will make my way through the episode using screenshots and commentary.[Read more…]

Gokukoku no Brynhildr has been out for a couple days now and I’ve just had the chance to watch it. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect going in, but I’m pretty pleased so far. Gokukoku no Brynhildr is the latest from Studio Arms (Elfen Lied, Mezzo Forte, Queen’s Blade, Maoyuu Maou Yuusha) and Lynn Okamoto. It’s Okamoto’s second manga, after Elfen Lied, to be adapted into an anime.